Wednesday, 16 July 2014

The Queen's Household

The Queen's household (in French La Maison de La Reine) counted not just servants but a large number of noblewomen. The positions of the Queen's ladies were highly coveted by every noble family who desired to place a woman of their kin as close as possible to the Queen; though the French Queen had no political power she did have direct access to the King. But - as always with Versailles - there was a strict hierarchy within the group of the Queen's ladies, each position was rewarded according to rank. The evolution of the Queen's household followed that of the King but remained significantly smaller throughout the 17th and 18th century. These are the places in the Queen's household in their proper ranking: